Thursday, August 4, 2016

Hostages: A pile of some $400 million in foreign cash shows up in Tehran in January and, almost simultaneously, four Americans are released by Iran's government. Mere coincidence? Only a fool, a tool or a member of the Obama administration would answer "yes" to that question.

Virtually all experts on terrorism would agree that paying ransom to terrorists is a bad idea. Once you pay for a group of people and show you're weak that way, you guarantee that there will be more innocent people snatched -- an endless cycle of kidnappings and ransom demands. It's a very bad idea, and contrary to long-standing U.S. policy. Yet, that's exactly what the Obama administration did.

But once again, the White House was, at best, disingenuous about what it did. The $400 million payment was part of a $1.7 billion settlement of Iranian claims before the international tribunal at the Hague related to the 1979 Iranian revolution.

However, when Obama commented on the exchange in January, he didn't mention the $400 million in cash. "With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well," Obama said. Note the careful non-mention of any payment whatsoever. It seems that Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were so intent on signing a nuclear deal with Iran, they even submitted to kidnapping blackmail.

Read the rest of this IBD editorial HERE and follow a link below to Ted Cruz's statement: